Bangalore - Shimoga : Route Queries

This is a discussion on Bangalore - Shimoga : Route Queries within Route / Travel Queries, part of the Travelogues category; Originally Posted by ssateesh
We are a group of 10 families in 7 cars traveling to Sharavati JLR camp near ...

We are a group of 10 families in 7 cars traveling to Sharavati JLR camp near Jog falls on 29th July at 5AM.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NPV

- Matha Sagar at Kibbanahalli Cross after Gubbi

This place would be suitable for a break since it has sufficient parking and a restroom. Useful when going with family. Kyathasandra could be a b'fast point, but KB Cross for a break. After that it would be Bhadravathi / Shimoga.

Update on Shimoga to BLR via Chitradurga. BLR-Chitradurga is good, so will talk on only Shimoga-Chitradurga.

Shimoga to Chitradurga (110km 2hrs) - Road up-gradation is WIP but manageable. They are widening the road to 1.5 lane each side without divider. Most of the narrow/blind curves are getting straitened. Also, thickness of the road is satisfactory. I would say 50% good road, 25% average, 25% bad. It may take another year to complete the upgrade.

Negatives on Shimoga-Chitradurga

1. No decent place to stop - We went to a sad place called Amogh Int'l. For family, its a strict no. Any suggestion in Chitradurga is welcome

1. No decent place to stop - We went to a sad place called Amogh Int'l. For family, its a strict no. Any suggestion in Chitradurga is welcome

Thanks for the update on the Shimoga-Chitradurga section!

At Chitradurga, Aishwarya international has been mentioned on some of the threads here but I haven't been there.
For food do try Sri Lakshmi Bhavan Tiffin Room, on one of the roads leading to the Chitradurga Fort, have been here couple of times and their breakfast/snacks are excellent, especially the Khali Dosas.

Is it advisable to use the BLR - Chitradurga - Shimoga route?
Or is it better to take the Arsikere route?

Last week I drove the stretch from dabaspet to shimoga via arsikere, as part of my drive from Chennai to kundapur. It is a pain to drive with lot of speed bumps, mad traffic inside the towns, and some broken roads around Tarikere. If you are comfortable with dealing these and driving on old fashioned 2 lane highway, you are good to go.
Also there were few unexpected potholes, where it was difficult to identify if you are not slow enough, due to tree shades.

I need to travel to Shivamogga tomorrow morning from Bangalore. Here are my options. Please provide some insights into which is the best option (re: road condition). I would want to avoid single lane journey as much as possible.

Start early and go with option 1. You can stop at Swathi Delicacy or Adigas Grand near Yediyur.

4 lane upto CR Patna and then 2 lane to Shimoga, and the CR Patna-Gandasi-Arsikere stretch is an excellent 2 lane road with hardly any traffic. At Arsikere, this will join the NH 206. Turn left at Arsikere and you will be headed towards Shimoga.

With Option 2, you get 4 lane upto Chitradurga, then 2 lane with some work in progress sections (for road widening). Not my favorite.

Option 3 would be to do Bangalore-Tumkur on NH 4 and then Tumkur bypass-Arsikere-et all on NH 206 all the way to Shimoga. But the Tumkur bypass is also bit rough and 2 lane begins from Tumkur itself upto Shimoga via Arsikere.

CR Patna is a good option. Roads are gone between Arsikere and Shimoga. Lots of pits on a two way traffic.

Durga is not a bad option as Durga-Shimoga road widening/construction nullifies Arsikere-Shimoga pits. The only catch via Durga is lack of decent places to eat/restroom especially if you have family travelling with you.

Last edited by ampere : 20th November 2016 at 17:30.
Reason: Formatted post

Both these routes should be ok with some shortcomings with each of them.
According to @aithalsandy, there are potholes on the Arsikere-Shimoga stretch and he says Chitradurga-Shimoga has road widening work but better. But the route has fewer options for breaks.

I would say start early in any case.

If taking CR Patna route you can stop at Swathi Delicacy or Adigas Grand near Yediyur.

If taking Chitradurga route, you may have to get inside the town for a break - Lakhmi Tiffins and Mysore Cafe are good.

Though Tumkur-Arasikere route is the shorter in terms of distance, it takes longer time to cover it compared to driving via CR Pattana. This is mainly attributed to the traffic(both vehicle and human) you have to deal with, while going through the small towns on the first route and the 4 lane route for most part of it in the latter route.
During my first run I encountered many potholes around Tarikere and some on Tumkur bypass, but they were all patched up during my latest run. For food you can also check at Suruchi Kadur, which is right on highway and has ample parking space.

2. Took the Channagiri - Chitradurga route on return to Bangalore:
- Average to below Average roads from Shivamogga to Bhadra river bridge
- Patches of roads under construction, very patchy roads at some stretches
- The first 2 points only contribute to 20-25% of roads
- The remaining 70-75% roads are stunning, unexpectedly amazing, freshly tarred and quite broad
- Chitradurga to Bangalore - Fantastic as usual

Recommended route: Via Channagiri - Chitradurga. A few patches and road construction on, but the remaining roads were brilliant.

Recommended route: Via Channagiri - Chitradurga. A few patches and road construction on, but the remaining roads were brilliant.

Thanks for the detailed update
The deterioration of Arsikere-Shimoga or parts of it and the completion of part of the Chitradurga-Shimoga route seem to have now made the latter a better choice. Only drawback is lack of good eateries with clean rest rooms between Bangalore-Chitradurga.

Also I'm surprised to hear CR Patna to Arsikere is average, used to be brilliant just few months ago.

The deterioration of Arsikere-Shimoga or parts of it and the completion of part of the Chitradurga-Shimoga route seem to have now made the latter a better choice. Only drawback is lack of good eateries with clean rest rooms between Bangalore-Chitradurga.

Also I'm surprised to hear CR Patna to Arsikere is average, used to be brilliant just few months ago.

This is excellent still. You have quiet few humps have come-up. Humps are really badly designed in many places. However if you are maintaining constant speed 80kmph, its not an issue! I am able to maintain 80kmph in this roads (between 10~11:05 on 25.10, 09:45 ~10:45 on 30.10). I think expectation of road surface differs from person to person.